The present invention relates to a protective device for syringe needles, and particularly to such a device which may be used for disposing contaminated syringe needles without the danger of contact by personnel.
Contaminated syringe needles pose a very serious danger to the health of personnel who handle the syringe needles, and many techniques have been proposed to protect such personnel from direct contact with contaminated needles. Many of the proposed solutions provide an arrangement for retracting the contaminated needle into the syringe so that both can be disposed at one time without coming into contact with the needle; such arrangements, however, require complete redesign of the syringe itself and are not usable with conventional syringe constructions. Other known arrangements provide a sheath for application to the contaminated needle, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,667; such known arrangements, however, generally require the use of two hands, one for holding the syringe and the other for holding the sheath. This is not only inconvenient for the attendant, but also poses a serious danger that the attendant may inadvertently bring the needle into contact with the attendant's hand holding the sheath at the time the needle is inserted into the sheath.